He’s not even in the NFL yet, but former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is making a starring appearance at the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami.

While the Indianapolis Colts’ Peyton Manning and the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees will be the quarterbacks on the field, the Heisman Trophy-winning college star will appear with his mother, Pam, on TV in an ad for the pro-life Christian group Focus on the Family that will air during the game.

The 30-second ad’s theme is “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” and a Focus on the Family press release said the Tebows agreed to the ad because “the issue of life is one they feel strongly about.” As a result, the ad is widely expected to focus on Mrs. Tebow’s pregnancy with Tim, when she was encouraged by doctors to abort him.

… During one of the mission trips, Mrs. Tebow came down with amoebic dysentery and slipped into a coma, requiring a treatment regimen that included strong antibiotics that can damage or kill an unborn child. When Mrs. Tebow learned she was pregnant, doctors advised her to abort the baby, whom she and her husband had prayed for and already named Timothy, she told the Gainesville, Fla., Sun in 2007.

Tim Tebow grew up to be one of the greatest players in college football history — becoming the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy as the game’s best player, being nominated as a Heisman finalist two other times, and helping lead the Florida Gators to two national titles in his four years at the university.

Tim Tebow has frequently evangelized about of his Christian faith and literally wears it on his face.

He puts the numbers of Bible verses on the black anti-glare patches that players wear under their eyes. In his last college game, a Sugar Bowl victory over Cincinnati, he displayed Ephesians 2:8-10, which reads in part, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

… Attempts by The Washington Times to reach Tim Tebow and his mother for comment on the Focus on the Family ad and the growing criticism of it were unsuccessful. But during practice Monday for the Senior Bowl all-star game in Mobile, Ala., he was asked about his ad and acknowledged that “some people won’t agree with it.”

“But I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe, and I’m never shy about that,” he told reporters. “I don’t feel like I’m very preachy about it, but I do stand up for what I believe. Unfortunately, in today’s society, not many athletes seem to do that.”

This, of course, his liberals and feminists in an uproar. Liberals don’t like the so-called “double standard” (more on that later), and feminists don’t like anyone even remotely considering life over abortion. It’s interesting, because they always claim to be all about choice. Yet if someone advocates choosing life over abortion, they descend into shrill hysterics about radical anti-choicers.

Feministing had a whole piece up about this, originally a Community post, but eventually listed as a favorite and then promoted to the main page of the site. They want people to take action. Because, you know, heaven forbid people hear both sides of the abortion debate. Heaven forbid a pro-lifer actually says something about being… pro-life! And because CBS is allowing this to run, it means they’re BIASED!!!!

By now, may of us have heard about and become incensed by CBS’ recent decision to allow the anti-gay, anti-woman, and, I’d argue, anti-man, group Focus on the Family to air an anti-choice ad during the Superbowl. This is either a complete reversal of policy, or, what it seems to be, a blatant illustration of the arbitrary enforcement of their “non-controversial ad” policy. CBS is using their TV network to promote a specifically conservative, anti-woman, anti-gay, and anti-Christian agenda. Lemme ‘splain.

First of all, this is not the first time CBS has faced criticism over this policy. Lets talk about three ads that CBS has rejected: an ad from the United Church of Christ, an ad from PETA, and an ad from moveon.org. In 2004, CBS denied the UCC’s ad citing the non-controversy policy. From a facebook group called “Tell CBS to reject Focus on the Family’s Ad or accept the UCC’s!” : “Five years ago, CBS rejected an ad from the United Churches of Christ, deeming that their message – that the church would accept all people – was too controversial.” CBS also rejected ads by PETA and MoveOn.org, citing that it does not “run advertisements on “controversial issues of public importance.” I guess it’s not controversial to run an ad against a LEGAL medical procedure. So, what does make the cut?

Well, I don’t know about the UCC ad or the moveon.org ad. But I have seen the Veggie Love ad that NBC rejected. And it was definitely not appropriate. The ad PETA wanted to air on CBS wasn’t either, featuring an obvious porn theme with the male “actor” going limp. See for yourself. So, the feminist argument is that a porno ad is OK for children to watch on television, but an ad with a popular quarterback talking with his mother about choosing life is not? Yeah, that makes sense. And while feminists can claim that this is an “anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-Christian” agenda, how can they really say anyways without having even seen the ad? I know being anti-abortion automatically means anti-woman to feminists, because apparently all women care about is abortion and nothing else, but I don’t understand where they get anti-gay and — this is the best part — anti-Christian. Um, I’m pretty sure that being pro-life is a pretty important part of Christianity, there, geniuses.

Of course, it’s not just feminists that are angry. Liberals are too, and perhaps even more angry — because this features not only a pro-life message, but a Christian one as well. Feminists aren’t inherently anti-Christian, but liberals… well, they tend to not like Judeo-Christian values too much. So, The Kossacks are pissed too, but the DUmmies are the ones who really are livid.

Grand Taurean: If I can kick the ball through the goal post can I get millions of dollars too? I can kick the ball, it’s not that hard. Perhaps, Mr. Tebow should stick to doing menial tasks such as kicking that ball.

Terra Alta:my nightmare would be for him to become another Kurt Warner and thank God for every touchdown and winning championship. I just have this bad feeling Tebow is going to become the “born again football star” successor to Kurt Warner.

LeftyMom:Florida doesn’t need another right wing nutsack who can’t f*cking shut up about Jebus.

fl_dem: IMO, the Super bowl is NOT the place for an anti-choice ad. No captive audience should be hijakced and exposed to a religous and or moral rant. I would rather some actor try to sell me crap flavored kool-aid then sit and listen to 30 seconds of Tebows mom go on about HER Choice while the corporation paying millions for the ad is trying to take my choice away.

theHandpuppet: Would you be so cavalier if the KKK broadcast a commercial? “Focus on the Family” is a misogynist, homophobic hate group that poured over a half million dollars into overturning gay marriage in California and more recently, some 100,000 dollars to defeat gay marriage in Maine. The fact that Tebow and Focus on the Family will now spend millions to campaign against the reproductive rights of women SHOULD piss people off.

I’m sick and tired of the Tim Tebows and Tony Dungys of the world constantly being referred to as “good Christians” when what they really are is BIGOTS who use their position as sports celebrities to push the hate-filled agendas of their brand of “Christianity”.

tularetom: This douchebag is gonna be a million times worse than Kurt Warner. Another *sshole wearing his religion on his sleeve – and on his shirt, pants, shoes and hat as well. We’re all going to get really sick of listening to the jeebus bullsh*t from this f*ckwad before he even takes a snap in the NFL. Warner and his dimbulb wife were bad enough, but I sort of got the impression that there was a bit of cynical manipulation behind their jeebus spiels. But this Tebow asshat – I think he really believes all that crap. The injection of religion into sports – bad f*ckin idea.

So you see, it isn’t just the idea of Tim Tebow being pro-life which angers the libtards so much. The very fact that Tebow is openly Christian bothers them as well. It’s Christianity they’re attacking, too. And what’s funny is that all of these people have no idea what this ad actually even says. It hasn’t aired yet! But they’re already having a collective hissy fit, supposedly because CBS has been picking and choosing which controversial ads are OK and which aren’t. Pro-gay ads and anti-Bush ads weren’t approved, so liberals are of course outrageously outraged.

But here’s the thing: we live in a capitalist country! If CBS wants to air only Christian pro-life ads, I believe they have every right to do so. And viewers have every right to not watch CBS because of it. See, if the majority of Americans were really offended, then they would stop watching. CBS’s advertising revenues would dry up, and with no viewership and no advertising money coming in, they would fold. Tada! Liberals don’t believe in the free market, however, so they’d just rather oppress someone’s free speech than try to find a way to counteract it.

Fortunately, I predict that all of the feminist and liberal caterwauling will be to no gain for them. Most Americans who watch this ad will probably be touched by it. A very select few will be offended, and they’re probably the ones who already are. So, once again, liberals and feminists are completely out of touch with mainstream America.

Oh, and two very big thumbs up to Tim Tebow. What he’s doing takes a lot of courage, and there are plenty who would happily keep their mouths shut about their faith and beliefs rather than subject themselves to the possible repercussions of speaking out.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

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Freedom to choose means never being faced with the potential physical or emotional consequences of having an abortion, nor being explained where your fetus is in development, nor seeing an ultrasound image… and now “freedom to choose” means never having to hear a story about someone who made a different choice?

How about the liberals/feminists make their own ad about a woman who had an abortion and how slicing up and vaccuming out her baby saved her from the horrors of seeing a happy infant suckling at her breast, reading books while her toddler fell asleep, and going to sports games, dance recitals, and graduations.

Grand Taurean: If I can kick the ball through the goal post can I get millions of dollars too? I can kick the ball, it’s not that hard. Perhaps, Mr. Tebow should stick to doing menial tasks such as kicking that ball.

Tim’s a champion on and off the field. Won’t even comment on what the haters are. Watched one on O’Reilly last night and the best she could come up with was the ad will take away a woman’s right to choose. All I got from her spiel was she was only for the 1st Amend. for her side not for any other message. On a side note, we’re Montana Gators and go home during football season, my sis-in-law’s name is Cassy and she’s from Jax, too. Small world.

They’re worried about nothing. Tim Tebow is not going to have much of an NFL career. He has awful mechanics and he struggles taking snaps under center. But he seems like a swell kid, and I wish him the best.

I thought they were all about choice.
Another woman made a different choice. If its all about choice, why do they want to silence the voices or ridicule the people who choose differently? Hypocrite much?

Whenever I read about this concocted controversy I wonder why the lefties will not relax and think the thing through.
I imagine that CBS is only allowing the ad because it is not antiabortion. It sounds like it will just be this family’s story. If this is the case, then when the ad runs the left’s cause will suffer loss of credibility because they went nutso without cause and will be seen more clearly as liars.
If their most dire predictions are, against all odds, right then CBS and Focus on the Family will look real bad but the left still has to live with the stain of the nutso push for prior restraint. It is my sense that most Americans are put off by the prior restraint thing; it just goes against our traditions. So the left is shoting themselves in the foot daily no matter what. But if some lefties just calmly say this might not be a good idea they insulate themselves from the prior restraint stigma and can still pounce if warranted.
Why all the carrying on? Are they convinced that their emotional bullying will always work? I don’t think that is a sure thing anymore. I suspect too many people are fed up with it but the left will have to be slapped down a number of times before they get the message.

How about the liberals/feminists make their own ad about a woman who had an abortion and how slicing up and vaccuming out her baby saved her from the horrors of seeing a happy infant suckling at her breast, reading books while her toddler fell asleep, and going to sports games, dance recitals, and graduations.

RachDubya on January 27, 2010 at 12:02 AM

How about a movie that showed more than the Kodak moments of childrearing and had teary testimonies from parents who watched their children destroy their lives (and possibly those of others) with any number of youthful follies?

A movie that realistically depicted the long-term consequences of both having and aborting a child, and showed people who did and didn’t regret either decision, would be a powerful movie indeed.

But making a rose-tinted, syrupy-sweet Holy Mom propaganda flick will bring nothing but bobblehead approval and mass eye-rolling from everyone else.